Daniel Lemire's blog

, 4 min read

Science and Technology links (May 18th, 2018)

5 thoughts on “Science and Technology links (May 18th, 2018)”

  1. simplicio says:

    “What is interesting to me is that these low global temperatures get no mention at all in the press whereas a single high temperature record (like what happened two years ago) gets the front page.”

    2017 was the second hottest year on record. Reporting it as a “low global temperature” just because it was not as hot as the previous year would be pretty misleading, at best.

    I guess I’m not sure what you think should be reported. Record temperatures seem newsworthy, while year-on-year differentials don’t. Its pretty obvious that each year is going to be a) warmer or b) colder than the previous. So that one of two possibilities manifested itself hardly seems like it needs the front page of the NYT.

    1. If Apple lost sales for the last two years, people would not report it as “last year was the second best year for Apple”. They would report a decline in sales and then they would try to explain it.

      Or, you know, just present the graph…

  2. Dmitry Akimov says:

    There is no strong evidence currently that people who exercise live longer.

    Wait, what?

    1. Some exercise has some health benefits, but it is unclear whether exercising allows you to live longer. In the news recently was a report showing that people who do physical labor don’t live as long as people who have office jobs.

      Runners often suffer from cardiovascular scarring. Marathon runners lose brain mass. Cyclists are at risk for osteoporosis.

      Exercise does not increase lifespan in mice.

      I am personnally physically fit (I’m stronger and fitter than people expect), but I do not expect that exercising is likely to increase my lifespan. I hope it will increase my healthspan.

      Athletes live longer, but so do competitive Chess players.

      1. ‪”a causal relationship between mortality and physical activity in adulthood has yet to be confirmed in randomised controlled trials of initially healthy individuals” http://blogs.bmj.com/bjsm/2018/03/20/how-sure-are-we-that-physical-activity-makes-us-live-longer/‬